Extreme Unction (Tom Riddle saga)

Chapter 4

"A sunshine-yellow potion, sweet and aromatic, that induces a sense of inexplicable, irrational happiness
upon the drinker" -
the Elixir to Induce Euphoria

~~~~

A wild emotion flooded Evelyn as she found herself in front of the familiar gates of Hogwarts.

"How rude" Jeff complained "They didn't send anyone to welcome us".
As a reply to him, the gates opened on their own, letting them in.
They started their march towards the castle.

"Is my crime this bad? Do you think I'll get expelled from the hospital?" Evelyn asked, hungry to hear others' opinion on her misdeed.
"You expelled yourself" he teased "For me it's a crime that nobody cared to replace me. I'm fond of my safe rooms at St Mungo's. It's a torture to be forced into a messy place like a school".

Evelyn frowned at his weird point of view.
She couldn't tell if he was an ally or a rival.
When they reached the castle, the gamekeeper came to escort them.
"Hagrid!" Evelyn recognized the tall wizard behind his big beard "It's been so long!".
"Evy?" the half giant exclaimed "Is that really you? What a nice surprise! Welcome back".
Having Hagrid as the new gamekeeper seemed one of the most incredible things that made that Hogwarts different from the school she had knew in her teenage years.
A big willow tree was in the fields around the castle, something that wasn't there before.

Tom had shared with his wife most of the news about the school, but seeing them with her own eyes was very different.

When they entered the castle, they were attracted by a loud speech from the Great Hall.
Evelyn recognized Albus Dumbledore's voice as he was giving some welcoming speech.
Jeff stopped her so they could let him finish his speech before interrupting with their presence.
"When the Ministry announced the idea of making this championship, I was perplexed. But then I realized that what more than Quidditch unites nations?" Dumbledore was saying with joy "Why don't try to bring that same feeling from the World Cup to a school competition, making it a chance to spend a year with students from other schools? So I was finally persuaded to agree and let Hogwarts be the first school to host the first Quidditch championship, that starts this year, nineteen seventy seven... Seven, the most powerful magical number, repeated twice. So what better year than this special year?".
Evelyn frowned at that speech. It was unusual for Dumbledore.
Seven was Tom's favourite number, but he wouldn't like that comparison to Quidditch.

Hagrid nodded towards a back door, but his presence couldn't be unnoticed, so he joined the staff again and nodded to Dumbledore.
So the headmaster announced them "The Ministry has been so caring to send us two healers from the St Mungo's Hospital to help our matron taking care of all of us. Let's welcome them with a warm applause".
Evelyn was holding her breath when she and Jeff were forced to come out from behind the scenes and enjoy the clapping from sleepy students, who wanted to just enjoy their breakfast.
Evelyn never saw the Great Hall so crowded. It seemed larger than she remembered it, yet there was no more room for more people.
She felt a chill down her spine as she spotted a precious table reserved to members of the Ministry, dozens of pairs of eyes scanning the newcomers.
"Jeffrey Greengrass" Dumbledore announced and shook the hand of the healer, then his eyes crossed the fearful ones of Evelyn.
He smiled with enthusiasm as he recognized her "And Evelyn Riddle!".

Silence fell quite abruptly when her name was mentioned.
Evelyn's eyes fell on the staff table, crossing Tom's shocked ones, his hand holding a cup in the mid air, but he wasn't going to drink from it anymore. His jaw was slightly dropped for the shock.
If only she could have warned him about her crime, maybe that embarrassing moment would have been more bearable. But surely he would have persuaded her to give up.
She saw the shock in his eyes vanishing to be replaced by something, like betrayal.
She hurried to look away to break that embarassing moment, just to be thrown into another one.